30 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
The Hazel should be cut oyer once in seven years, and will thus yield plenty of 
useful stuff, and form a good covert for game (always a desideratum). I have 
too frequently seen the Hazel shoots chopped off by rabbits, and the stools 
gnawed and killed by these vermin. They ought therefore to be well looked 
after. 
We now come to speak of the important part which good drainage secures 
alike to the progress of all vegetable crops. It is particularly important in the case 
of trees; but covered drains must be avoided, as they soon become choked by 
the masses of roots which insinuate themselves into them in search of moisture. 
Therefore before you commence planting, find out the lowest part of the 
ground, and commence digging your drains, which are simply to be open 
trenches, with sloping sides of grass, which may occasionally be cleaned out. 
Continue these drains all over the ground, and when they are finished, proceed 
to the planting. 
Repton has observed that the contour of the English Elm is very suitable 
to the Gothic style of architecture, and we were struck with the beauty of the 
trees at Magdalen College, Oxford, under these circumstances. He also re¬ 
marks upon the unfitness of surrounding Gothic villas with Fir trees. We 
think him right in this remark, and cannot reflect upon some of the scenes 
which it has been our fate to have seen without a shudder. 
Having written thus far, we hasten to conclude, sincerely hoping that what 
we have penned may be the means of doing good, by pointing out what is erro¬ 
neous and substituting better things. May it lead those who are proprietors, 
and are about to form places, to make them perfect whole ; and although they 
may be of a different scale, may they bear in their artistic arrangement com¬ 
parison with the noble works of a Brown and a Repton. 
Amersliam. Henry Bailey, C.M.R.H.S. 
HEATING VINE BORDERS. 
I will in as few words as possible indorse part of what your correspondent 
“ F.” remarks with respect to heated Vine-borders. 
First. I believe the heating of Vine-borders will prove to be an evil; and 
that more Vines will be spoiled by that system than many people are at present 
aware of. If piping in any quantity is used under the borders, after a few years 
it will have a tendency to dry all the moisture out of the whole of the bottom part 
of the border to a depth of 2 feet or more. We all know how difficult it is 
to get water to penetrate the soil that has become very dry, even when it is easily 
applied; but when 18 inches or 2 feet of the bottom part of a Vine border 
becomes dry, how are we to get water to it ? That good Grapes can be grown 
without bottom heat I know from my own experience, and from a personal inspec¬ 
tion I know that some of Mr. Meredith’s finest Grapes have been grown without 
it; for instance, those wonderful Hamburghs shown at the Crystal Palace last 
September were grown without bottom heat; then again, those extraordinary 
Barbarossas and Black Alicantes mentioned in the Florist and Pomologist for 
December, I saw growing in a very flat lean-to house and what is more remark¬ 
able still, facing the north. In this house there is merely a bank of soil placed 
against the front wall about 5 or 6 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. In this the Vines 
are planted. There are, if my memory serves me right, three rows of four-inch 
pipes placed on the surface of the soil. The Vines in this house, Mr. Meredith 
told me, had only been planted two years. In this house I had an opportunity 
of seeing Lady Downes’ and Black Alicante side by side, and was much struck 
with the immense superiority of the latter in every point, although Lady Downes’ 
* This house -was formerly used as a potting-shed; it is about 90 feet long, and 18 feet vide. It is on the 
northern extremity of Mr. Meredith’s ground, and is partly overhung with trees. 
